Nigeria Talks Tough, Warns South Africa Over Seized $5.7 Million Arms Money

In a terse reaction to what appears a potential diplomatic spat between the two countries, the Nigerian government denied the second transaction was illegal and reminded South Africa of how Nigeria has provided a beneficial environment for South African companies like MTN, DSTV and a host of others to do business unhindered. “It is our hope that South Africa would reciprocate this noble gesture,” the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, said Monday, with a vow to eradicate Boko Haram regardless of the antics of “fifth columnists”.

Nigeria responded with fury Monday after South African authorities confiscated a second tranche of funds meant for arms purchase to fight the extremist Boko Haram sect, denying the deal was unlawful and warning South Africa of its investment in Nigeria.

The warning came after the South African government seized US$5.7 million wired by the Nigerian government through a bank to an arms dealer in that country.


South Africa’s Asset Forfeiture Unit of the National Prosecuting Authority said the money, about N952 million, was the proceed of illegal transactions, according to local paper, City Press.

The seizure was the second in nearly three weeks, coming after authorities there froze $9.3 million transported in cash by two Nigerians and an Israeli for arms purchase. At the time, South Africa said the transaction violated its laws on movement of cash.

In a terse reaction to what appears a potential diplomatic spat between the two countries, the Nigerian government denied the second transaction was illegal and reminded South Africa of how Nigeria has provided a beneficial environment for South African companies like MTN, DSTV and a host of others to do business unhindered.

“It is our hope that South Africa would reciprocate this noble gesture,” the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, said Monday, with a vow to eradicate Boko Haram regardless of the antics of “fifth columnists”.

Mr. Dasuki, named by the South African newspaper as the official who signed off the first controversial deal, confirmed late Monday the second transaction occurred as reported but firmly denied it was conducted illegally.

“We want to state clearly that a business transaction actually took place between a legitimate company in Nigeria and another legitimate one in South Africa through the bank,” said Mr. Dasuki through a spokesperson, Karounwi Adekunle.

“In the course of events, the South African company could not perform and decided to refund the money. What is illegitimate in this transaction done through the bank?” he queried.

Details of the latest transaction came more than two weeks after two Nigerians and an Israeli were arrested as they attempted to smuggle US$9.3 million through Lanseria International Airport, Johannesburg, on September 5 in a private jet from Abuja.

The money, stashed in three suitcases, raised suspicion when the passengers’ luggage were unloaded and put through the scanners.

The National Prosecuting Authority, NPA, in South Africa said there was an invoice for helicopters and armaments intended to be used in Nigeria.

Two black plastic suitcases, filled with 90 blocks each containing US$100,000 in notes, with combination locks, were seized, as well as two pieces of hand luggage also containing US currency, according to City Press.

The Israeli national, Eyal Mesika, had the combination to open the locks.

Under South African laws, a person entering or leaving the country is expected to carry cash not exceeding US$2,300, or the equivalent in foreign currency notes.

The news of the first transaction angered Nigerians, particularly as it became clear the private jet involved belonged to the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Ayo Ortisejafor.

Mr. Oritsejafor, a close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan, said the plane had been leased to a third party and he could not be blamed for its schedules.

The Nigerian government later admitted it was behind the arms deal, claiming it acted out of desperation for arms to defeat extremist sect, Boko Haram.

South African paper, City Press, said it was the NSA, Mr. Dasuki, who personally authorised the first arms contract by issuing an end-user certificate, alongside a “shopping list” for helicopters, unmanned aircraft, rockets and ammunition.

But Nigerian security officials said the report by the newspaper indeed provided proof that the first transaction was not illegitimate as well, since the end-user certificate and a shopping list were provided.

A security source was quoted as saying “in issuing end-user certificate, the ONSA (Office of the National Security Adviser) ensures that it carries all relevant agencies and stakeholders along. Therefore, such a responsibility is not a unilateral development,” according to PRNigeria, an agency frequently used by the Nigerian military to disseminate official statements.

“For security reasons, the chains leading to the issuance of end-user certificate cannot be put in the public domain.

“The recent interest in arms purchase was informed by the challenges of insurgency which our nation had been grappling with in the last few years. This is why the understanding of all Nigerians is necessary.

“Nigeria is desperate to counter activities of terrorists no matter what it takes even when some of our friends are not being fair to us,” the agency said Monday.

The latest transaction was between Cerberus Risk Solutions, an arms broker in Cape Town, and Societe D’Equipments Internationaux, said to be a Nigerian company based in Abuja.

The paper said the deal fell apart after Cerberus, which had earlier received from Nigeria R60 million (N1.02 billion) through its account at Standard Bank, tried to repay the money as it could not resolve its registration formalities with the South African authorities.

“Cerberus was previously registered as a broker with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), but the registration expired in May this year,” City Press said.

“The marketing and contracting permits also expired at the same time. The company has since applied for re-registration, but the application lay in the NCACC’s mailbox for more than two months.

“Sources told Rapport that Cerberus apparently tried to pay the money back to the Nigerian company, after which the bank became suspicious,” the paper reported.

The paper added that while the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit subsequently obtained a court order in the South Gauteng High Court to seize the money, the NPA spokesperson Nathi Mncube, said there were no indications the two transactions were related.

“However, both are now the subject of a criminal investigation and all possible information and connections are being investigated,” Mr. Mncube was quoted as saying.

The statement from Mr. Dasuki’s office confirmed the inability of the South African company to deliver and the attempt to refund.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/10/07/nigeria-talks-tough-warns-south-africa-over-seized-57-million-arms-money

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Space booked

We are interested in the $9.3m illegal deal....


Fraudulent Government!

Somebody is looking for trouble but it won't pay them at last o!!!! They should warn SA before it backfires o!!!!

"talking tough"? I expected to hear a more decisive statement from an upper official

Medicine after death. Dasuki

It is expected!

Nigeria should do the needful...the terror war must be won so no time for kid gloves on fifth columnists.

Tit-for-tat, do me I do you...Simple!

Na wa ooo

barcanista:
We are interested in the $9.3m illegal deal....


Fraudulent Government!

How and what makes it illegal?

Do you think money trafficking laws apply to governments?

The law is meant for common plebs like yourself. That is why the first and recent shipments came in with a security clearance from the office of Dasuki.

Ask the CIA or PENTAGON how they shipped dollars meant for Taliban war lords in Afghanistan or that used in sponsoring ISIS in Iraq or militias in Benghazi.

Do you think those guys got a transaction alert?

yeye people

U.S. Army getting ready to pay Taliban warlords and opium growers in Afghanistan.

How do you think they shipped so much dollars in?

I bet it wasn't through Afghan Standard Trust Bank.

The U.S. govt illegally ships billions of dollars world wide annually to fund covet operations, maintain spy networks and fund insurgencies.

Nigerians should start getting some small common sense

I strongly urge you all to read this: Commander's Guide To Money as a Weapon System http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/call/docs/09-27/09-27.pdf

Here is the forward

This Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) handbook assists company-, battalion-,
and brigade-level officers and noncommissioned officers to effectively use money as a
weapons system on the counterinsurgency (COIN) battlefield. Coalition money is defeating
COIN targets without creating collateral damage, by motivating antigovernment forces to
cease lethal and nonlethal operations, by creating and providing jobs along with other
forms of financial assistance to the indigenous population, and by restoring or creating vital
infrastructure. Money also funds other tools of war.
Key lessons:
• Money is a valuable weapons system.
• Money and contracting in a COIN environment are vital elements of combat power.
• Leaders must leverage money and contracting in operations.
• Leaders must understand funding programs and contracting.
• Brigades often lack internal resource management expertise and knowledge of
funding.
• Financial management administrative requirements in a combat environment can be
extremely burdensome but are necessary for good stewardship.
• Financial management expertise and knowledge of funding are critical to successful
operations.
• Without proactive leadership involvement, the potential for extensive fraud, waste,
and abuse of funds exists in the COIN environment.
This handbook is a guide and addresses some of the most common funds available to
warfighters. Since policies, procedures, and guidelines change as do sources and amounts
of funds available to fund warfighters, obtain the latest funding information from the
supporting resource manager before taking action to fund warfighters.

barcanista:
We are interested in the $9.3m illegal deal....


Fraudulent Government!

Blind man wake up from your sleep . The case of $9.3m has been cleared. It wasn't illegal . The SA will release the money sooner or later .

Nigerian's should know by now that normal protocols are not been followed in purchase of weapon's during war time.

M4gunners:
Blind man wake up from your sleep . The case of $9.3m has been cleared. It wasn't illegal . The SA will release the money sooner or later .

who cleared it mr unblind man? Honestly, with people like you living it won't be long before concerned citizens sponsors pro abortion bill

..

I've never seen where a legitimate government with cash at hand is having so much difficulty acquiring arms to fight a terrorist group. I'm very much interested in knowing why the SA company that had already accepted payment from Nigeria all of a sudden couldn't get clearance from the SA govt and had to refund the money. Could it be that the same powers that frustrated our efforts to purchase military equipment from Israel and elsewhere have struck again?

Meanwhile, BH is armed to the teeth and the latest unsubstantiated rumor is that they now have some gunships at their disposal. Keep playing politics with everything till the day "Boko Haram" starts flying fighter jets over your villages.

The U.S. Govt is not sincere about their claims of spreading Democracy to 3rd World Countries.

Democracy is an effective weapon in ensuring bad puppet leaders who are encouraged to destabilize their countries and help siphon resources and money to the U.S.

How do you think they got so rich?

The rest of the world floats the U.S. economy.

Having bad puppet leaderships also provides an avenue to fund black OPs. The U.S. govt has a shadow military of over 90,000 personnel working around the globe.

Most of the funding that they draw for their missions comes from stolen loot stashed in safety deposit boxes.

Since most of these black OPs are highly illegal and subversive within international and U.S. statute books, congressional allocations can not be approved. Also having to operate within the grey area of the financial World makes it easy to deny that the OP exist in the first place. The first way to unraveling any operation is to trace the money trail.

All over Africa, the middle east and south America, the Pentagon has propped up corrupt puppet leaders who they give a level of legitimacy as long as they get their own cut.

The Muhajadeen fighters of Afghanistan fighting against the Soviet occupiers in the 80's to which Osama Bin Laden was an active fighter were allowed to deal in Opium and Heroin in order to fund the weapons acquisition. Most of the Afghan heroin ended up in Europe which saw heroin pandemic.

Today in Nigeria, there are several past leaders and opposition elements with strong ties to the U.S. govt.

Abiola was one of them.

Abiola after his death had little or nothing. His children are now glorified landlords as that is the only tangible asset he left them. All the money stashed in overseas accounts were duly recouped back to the real owners the CIA.

Due to how dirty the hands of some Nigerians have been in corruption, it's just too easy to disbelive that the seizes cash was meant for arm purchasal. After proper investigation is completed, the truth will be known to all.

Kc3000:
I've never seen where a legitimate government with cash at hand is having so much difficulty acquiring arms to fight a terrorist group. I'm very much interested in knowing why the SA company that had already accepted payment from Nigeria all of a sudden couldn't get clearance from the SA govt and had to refund the money. Could it be that the same powers that frustrated our efforts to purchase military equipment from Israel and elsewhere have struck again?

Meanwhile, BH is armed to the teeth and the latest unsubstantiated rumor is that they now have some gunships at their disposal. Keep playing politics with everything till the day "Boko Haram" starts flying fighter jets over your villages.

With all honesty there is really more to this than meets the eye.

It is my opinion that I believe the Nigerian govt where not out to procure weapons but to recruit South African Mercenaries.

South Africa is a leader in Private Military Contractors stemming from the Boer Wars.

The FG needed to make it a covet OP so as not to draw criticism from both the general public and military circles.

I strongly believe that the SA govt knew about this but scuttled it on behest of the U.S.

THIS IS MY HONEST ASSUMPTION.

RevDesmondJuju:


How and what makes it illegal?

Do you think money trafficking laws apply to governments?

The law is meant for common plebs like yourself. That is why the first and recent shipments came in with a security clearance from the office of Dasuki.

Ask the CIA or PENTAGON how they shipped dollars meant for Taliban war lords in Afghanistan or that used in sponsoring ISIS in Iraq or militias in Benghazi.

Do you think those guys got a transaction alert?

yeye people

This is the simple truth. But because of how corrupt our Nigerian leaders are, we don't believe whatever they say until proper investigation is carried, and the truth known. Right from the $9.3m scandal, i knew it was a clean deal, just SA was bent on painting us black.

RevDesmondJuju:


With all honesty there is really more to this than meets the eye.

It is my opinion that I believe the Nigerian govt where not out to procure weapons but to recruit South African Mercenaries.

South Africa is a leader in Private Military Contractors stemming from the Boer Wars.

The FG needed to make it a covet OP so as not to draw criticism from both the general public and military circles.

I strongly believe that the SA govt knew about this but scuttled it on behest of the U.S.

THIS IS MY HONEST ASSUMPTION.

This is a strong possibility, never thought of that.

barcanista:
who cleared it mr unblind man? Honestly, with people like you living it won't be long before concerned citizens sponsors pro abortion bill

So you are still doubting?

Kc3000:


This is a strong possibility, never thought of that.

Because I am smarter than you

You will now appreciate why the govt will need it top secret.

The top brass in the Nigerian Army will not like to see their jobs outsourced and the opposition may spin it that Jonathan is using his snipers.

The Mercenaries would have had multiple roles from training, intelligence gathering and assisination of top Boko Commaders.

It is a signal that Aso Rock does not believe in the capability of the Nigerian Military brass and their sincerity.

The money would have been required in cash as maintaining an army is highly expensive to run on a daily basis.

Most private military companies in South Africa hide under guise as security firms and arm dealers. They are also exclusively owned by white south Africans linked to the radical right wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner_Weerstandsbeweging which are opposed to the ANC led government.

Remember the story of these guys who are currently serving long prison sentences in Equitorial Guinea for staging a coup:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_du_Toit

They are all white south Africans

SA hating on us since.

Why can't Nigeria respect itself?
Is only SA the existing country in the world where arms could be purchased?

And i also will like to remind SA govt that what goes around will always come around.

PERIOD!!!!

Samunique:
Why can't Nigeria respect itself?
Is only SA the existing country in the world where arms could be purchased?

And i also will like to remind SA govt that what goes around will always come around.

PERIOD!!!!

And what makes you think they went shopping for arms?

all that money should have been directed to an institution that will oversee creation of our own weapons and armunitions here in nigeria....we should be ashamed of buying arms already...lets start creating our own arms.

barcanista:
We are interested in the $9.3m illegal deal....


Fraudulent Government!

Ignoramus
Why not shut up,read the entire thread and learn rather than expose your crass ignorance

Samunique:
Why can't Nigeria respect itself?
Is only SA the existing country in the world where arms could be purchased?

And i also will like to remind SA govt that what goes around will always come around.

PERIOD!!!!

The entire transactions are being sabotaged by fifth columnists,the same set of people that have made it to deal a decisive blow on the boko basterds once and for all.
Even if the FG leaves SA and goes to shop elsewhere,chances are that the traitors will still act,I guess SA is even our best bet cos they have a boundary,if they cross it,the FG will squeeze their balls

RevDesmondJuju:


Because I am smarter than you

You will now appreciate why the govt will need it top secret.

The top brass in the Nigerian Army will not like to see their jobs outsourced and the opposition may spin it that Jonathan is using his snipers.

The Mercenaries would have had multiple roles from training, intelligence gathering and assisination of top Boko Commaders.

It is a signal that Aso Rock does not believe in the capability of the Nigerian Military brass and their sincerity.

The money would have been required in cash as maintaining an army is highly expensive to run on a daily basis.

Most private military companies in South Africa hide under guise as security firms and arm dealers. They are also exclusively owned by white south Africans linked to the radical right wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner_Weerstandsbeweging which are opposed to the ANC led government.

Remember the story of these guys who are currently serving long prison sentences in Equitorial Guinea for staging a coup:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_du_Toit

They are all white south Africans

Ok, smart guy We can only speculate but it would really be a desperate play by our govt, and is certain to evoke some backlash. Mercenaries are in it strictly for the money, so I've always had my reservations about their commitment, even though they tend to be highly trained and specialized former military personnel. I suspect the bottom line for them in this kind of conflict is to stay alive and hope the conflict continues and they can continue to get paid. They aren't cheap either. The best thing is to have them on short term contracts, and task them with very specific missions that can be easily verified, or let them focus on training. Bottom line, our Army would still have to do most of the heavy lifting if we intend on ending this scourge. It would be damn near impossible to source a private Army that can duplicate the efforts of a standing Army like ours.

South African Mercenaries are currently in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.

They know the gig on Islamic Terrorists.

I will hire them if I was Jonathan given that vast majority of the northern muslim officers owe their allegiance not to the presidency but to the Hausa/Fulani Cabal that secured them their job.

The Wild West in East Africa: What do a handful of South African mercenaries do for an encore

It’s not easy to be a mercenary these days. The once-booming markets in Iraq and Afghanistan have shrunk, while lingering controversy surrounding the mercenary poster-boy company Blackwater (or whatever they’re called these days) has served to paint private security contractors as reckless and unaccountable war junkies. A good gig as a soldier of fortune is harder and harder to come by.

Yet there’s one war-torn country where demand for guns-for-hire is still high. A contingent of mercenaries has managed to carve out a niche for itself in the failed state of Somalia. Initially brought on in an internationally controversial mission to combat pirates terrorizing Somalia’s coastal waters, the mostly South African corps have now turned to fighting Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked terrorist menace, al-Shabab. In the anarchic world of failed states, private contractors are often able to accomplish what goverments are not. But the consequences are hard to predict.

Even by the standards of Basrah or Kandahar, northern Somalia’s a pretty tough place to go to work. Mired in civil war for over two decades, Islamist militants, pirates, clan militias, and government forces continually clash in an ever-shifting web of alliances. But for these hardened South African mercenaries, such environments are hardly new.



There’s a good reason so many mercenaries hail from there. After the collapse of apartheid, many highly trained and experienced fighters found themselves out of a job. When the 32 “Buffalo” Battalion, an infamous counter-insurgency force mostly deployed in southern Angola was disbanded in 1993, many of its erstwhile members joined Executive Outcomes (EO), the world’s first modern private military company. EO also hired former members of the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), a euphemistically named secretive hit squad that targeted anti-apartheid activists.

Starting in 1993, EO began to pop up in sundry civil wars across the world’s hot spots. In Angola and Sierra Leone, the company’s forces almost singlehandedly saved the governments from advancing rebels. But in 1997, EO subcontractors were detained and then expelled from Papua New Guinea after becoming embroiled in an international scandal over mining rights known as the Sandline Affair. The following year the company dissolved, though EO personnel continued to find new work. In 2004, they were involved in an abortive coup aimed at toppling Equatorial Guinea strongman Teodoro Obiang. Now the same old guard — fighting for an array of security outfits with ever-changing names — have found themselves in Somalia.

In January 2010, about 150 mercenaries and support staff (working for Saracen International, a shadowy Lebanese company registered to EO founding director and former CCB officer Lafras Luitingh), were contracted by the government of Puntland, an autonomous northern enclave that has managed to avoid the worst of the Somali civil war. Ruling over about 1.5 million people and a quarter of Somalia’s territory, the Puntland administration on the whole has far outperformed the internationally recognized government in Mogadishu. As Somali federal politicians beg for handouts from donor countries, Puntlanders maintain their own security, levy taxes, and are on the cusp of holding direct elections.

Saracen’s task was to train and mentor the Puntland Marine Police Force (PMPF), a 1,000-man strong local counter-piracy militia based in Bosaso, Puntland’s main port and largest city. Flush with some $50 million in start-up funds from the United Arab Emirates, Saracen came equipped with flatbed trucks, marine patrol aircraft, and Alouette IIIs — French light helicopters primarily used for reconnaissance.

The Puntland administration, eager for international support, was for its part happy to show the world it could be an ally in the fight against piracy. For the Emirates, ensuring that their shipping corridors were pirate-free — particularly for oil-exporting tankers — was well worth keeping somewhat dodgy company.

“This project was conceived by, and executed by what we would call pariahs, people who are not part of polite society,” said Robert Young Pelton, author of Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror. “But it remains one of the most efficient and productive solutions to the problem of piracy.”

It’s hard to argue with the results. Since PMPF went live in early 2010, piracy has been virtually eliminated in Puntland; over a year has passed since the last Somali pirate hijacking. Yet exactly where the credit lies is different matter. Most attribute the drop off in piracy to the increased deployment of armed guard detachments on board commercial vessels, rather than enforcement efforts on land.

But critics fear that law enforcement may not be the PMPF’s primary purpose. An elite, foreign-trained paramilitary force — loyal only to Puntland’s president — could be used to suppress domestic opposition to the administration, or even to enforce Puntland’s claims to territory disputed with the neighboring region of Somaliland. The United Nations has been particularly persistent in its denunciation of the PMPF, accusing the group of violating the 1992 arms embargo on Somalia.

Meanwhile, Putland has become an increasingly inviting home for al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda affiliated Somali terrorist group. Kenyan, Ugandan, and Ethiopian troops have squeezed them militarily in the south of the country, and the group has fled north into Puntland’s Galgala hills, a mere 30 kilometers west of Bosaso.

But with a paltry annual budget of around $20 million, the Puntland government has few options when it comes to containing the region’s growing Islamist threat. This rogue band of foreign mercenaries may be their best hope.

* * *

The PMPF’s transition from counter-piracy to counter-terrorism force has been both long and troubled. In 2012, Saracen International was forced to rebrand itself as Sterling Corporate Services, following bad press and harsh criticism from the United Nations. Last June, the UAE finally responded to external pressure and pulled its funding for the PMPF. Sterling Corporate Services dissolved, and most of the foreign personnel departed. Yet a skeleton crew of 12 freelance guns-for-hire remained in Bosaso to maintain the force’s equipment and minimal operational capacity — though initially without pay. Five months later, UAE funding to the outfit quietly resumed to the tune of $1.2 million per month, and back wages were paid, according to a Puntland government source.

Among those remaining in Puntland was former EO commander Roelf van Heerden, 58, a South African with a salt and pepper mustache and intense gaze. Van Heerden served as the PMPF’s operations commander from April 2012 to January of this year.

The PMPF’s first major target in June 2012, he told us in early May, was the pirate boss Isse Yulux, who commanded a 100-man militia holding two valuable tankers for ransom, the MT Smyrni and MT Royal Grace. Van Heerden and the PMPF pursued Yulux across northern Puntland, but the pirate leader was always a step ahead. On June 6, the PMPF caught up with Yulux at his compound near the coastal village of Bargaal. As van Heerden and former EO pilot Arthur Walker circled above in an aging Alouette chopper, the pair came under Dushka 12.7mm anti-aircraft fire from a defensive line of technicals — flatbed trucks with mounted guns – ringing the compound.

The Alouette’s gunner responded by opening fire from the chopper’s single machine gun, destroying the technicals and killing one pirate. But Yulux and his men evaded capture yet again, and sailed away into the Gulf of Aden with theSmyrni and Royal Grace. Yulux seemed tipped off to the attack, which led van Heerden to conclude that the PMPF had been infiltrated. Abdirizak Farah, the PMPF’s local Somali commander, came to van Heerden one day with a blunt warning.

“He told me to sleep with my weapon,” van Heerden said. “Yulux had created a hit list of expat commanders and had offered rewards. I was number one on the list.”

It wasn’t an idle threat. On April 27, 2012, Saracen’s Lodewyk Pietersen was shot dead by two of his trainees while monitoring troop movements into a Puntland village. While the official account of the incident reported that the murder had resulted from Pietersen disciplining his troops over the theft of a vehicle, van Heerden is convinced that the killers were paid by Yulux.

“He was number four on the list,” van Heerden said.

But even infiltrated and with a reduced contingent of Saracen/Sterling mercenaries, the PMPF continued its mission. The most daring operation unfolded on Dec. 23, 2012. After a three week-long siege, its marines launched an assault on the pirates holding the MV Iceberg, a Dubai-owned cargo ship whose mostly Indian crew — abandoned by their shipping company — had been held hostage for an astounding two years and nine months. One crewmember had committed suicide, and chief mate Dhiraj Tiwari had been severely tortured and eventually beaten to death by his captors. The high winds of the monsoon season had driven the Iceberg, now depleted of fuel, onto a rocky shoal near the shore, rupturing her hull.

Simon Mann after arrest in Zimbabwe - flickr/Podknox
Simon Mann after arrest in Zimbabwe – flickr/Podknox
The rescue operation began at dawn. Once again, van Heerden concluded, the pirates had been tipped off, and the PMPF marines were greeted by machine gun fire breaking the early morning silence. Upon realizing that the ship’s steel plating was sufficient to shield the pirates from small arms fire, van Heerden called for heavier weapons. In due course, PMPF marines sent for a Soviet-issue recoilless rifle, and began bombarding the ship’s bridge from a position on the nearby beach. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Iceberg’s hijackers agreed to surrender on the condition of safe passage off the vessel, and her crew’s long ordeal came to an end.

Farah told van Heerden that following the operation, Indian officials arrived in Bosaso on Dec. 24 and handed over $1.5 million in cash to PMPF director Mohamed Farole — Puntland President Abdirahman Farole’s eldest son. The alleged payment was also reported by the local news website Horseed, though we were unable to independently verify the figure. Just $3,000 in reward money was paid to the PMPF marines who participated in the operation, according to Farah — about $30 a man.

* * *

But the situation on the ground had begun to change months before this daring raid late last year. As piracy sharply declined throughout 2012, the rationale for the PMPF’s continued existence had become increasingly murky. Around a campfire one evening in May 2012, over coffee and biscuits, the mercenaries excitedly discussed what their future held.

“They talked about how once counter-piracy was done they could refocus on other threats, such as al-Shabab and ‘instability writ large,'” recalled Roger Carstens, a counter-insurgency expert who spent time with the PMPF.

Yulux, like most Somali pirates, has since gone to ground, and it appears that the soldiers of fortune now have a new target: al-Shabab. Indeed, indications are that the PMPF may be transitioning into a counter-terrorism unit, battling the insurgency in Puntland’s Galgala hills, southwest of Bosaso. The violent Islamist campaign in Puntland was kicked off in early 2010 by arms smuggler Mohamed Said Atom, who — though aligned with al-Shabab — maintained an independent network. Atom’s organization was taken over by al-Shabab the following year, as sustained military setbacks in the south increasingly led the group to relocate north, so as to keep a line of communication open to al Qaeda elements in Yemen.

“We believe that there are … more than 400 [fighters] in those areas,” President Farole told Reuters news agency in November.

Late in 2012, al-Shabab escalated its attacks in Puntland. On Dec. 5, militants struck a base of the Puntland militia, known as Darawish, 18 miles south of Bosaso, killing 17 soldiers. The same night, a roadside bomb planted by Islamist militants claimed the lives of another 10 soldiers.

Puntland authorities were quick to answer back. According to van Heerden, the PMPF’s first engagement with al-Shabab took place in the Galgala hills on Jan. 15. As Darawish and Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) forces advanced on the ground, the PMPF provided aerial support with the Alouette and one fixed-wing aircraft.

Skirmishes continued over the next several months. Following an al-Shabab ambush on Feb. 14 of a Darawish and PIS column, a condemnation of the mercenaries found its way into the terror group’s rhetoric.

“The attack was carried out by the anti-Shahada [anti-Islam] militias of the administration calling itself Puntland,” al-Shabab spokesman Abu Muscab related. “They had 18 vehicles and were receiving air support from Saracen.”

The United Nations had long ago warned of the specter of foreign mercenaries playing a combat role in Somalia, citing their lack of accountability as well as the possible disruption of the international security force building in Somalia. In its reports to the Security Council, the U.N. Somalia Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) repeatedly blasted the PMPF for flouting the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia. “Under the [U.N.] embargo there is no role for foreign military personnel to operate in Somalia,” Matt Bryden, who served as the coordinator of the SEMG from 2008 to 2012, told us earlier this month. “[P]articipating in combat operations is clearly going beyond what the Security Council envisioned for any foreign force other than AMISOM [the African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu].”

Bryden disputes that Saracen’s private army has had much of any success: “The PMPF, to my knowledge, has only rescued one ship that had already run aground,” Bryden said, referring to the MV Iceberg operation. “Most pirate bases it has entered had already been vacated. And it has yet to arrest one significant pirate leader. Counter-piracy doesn’t seem to be its primary goal.”

Like many others, Bryden seems to regard the PMPF as a quasi-praetorian guard masquerading as a counter-piracy force. A paramilitary unit loyal only to the president — and commanded by the president’s son — could destabilize Puntland’s upcoming elections, he argued. If Puntland — one of the few stable areas in Somalia — breaks into turmoil, there are concerns that the region will become a safe haven for al-Shabab terrorists.

Fears over the politicization of the PMPF may already be coming to pass. On Oct. 29, the PMPF blocked roads and encircled the Bosaso residence of former Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Ali Gaas, who was widely viewed as a potential candidate in the Puntland presidential election scheduled for next January. As a result of the PMPF’s intervention, Gaas was unable to meet with local politicians and elders.

Both PMPF Director Mohamed Farole and President Abdirahman Farole declined to comment for this article. However, the Puntland government maintains that it has no intention to use the PMPF or its expat mercenaries in the fight against al-Shabab. “Compared to today, the threat level from Galgala, militarily, is not what it was in 2010,” a Puntland government source told us. “There is no plan — and no need — to use the PMPF in the Galgala hills.”

Yet the PMPF’s revamped role as al-Shabab hunters might be exactly the reason the UAE continues to fund the force. “Their main interest is that they see Puntland as a launching pad for attacks, specifically from al Qaeda elements, against the UAE,” said Pelton. “They want to ensure that the PMPF is watching their back.” UAE officials were not available for comment.

The future of the PMPF remains in limbo. Following the departure of the majority of Saracen/Sterling’s mercenaries, the Puntland government has searched for another private contractor to resume the PMPF training program and provide a coherent command structure. But after the international scandal, no contracting firms have been eager to take on the task.

The presence of foreign mercenaries in war-torn states will no doubt remain controversial. But some say that preaching about international legitimacy in places that lack the basic peace and security most take for granted is a luxury Puntland can ill afford. Others put the point more bluntly.

“In a place like Somalia you don’t have time to screw around with the U.N.,” said Pelton.

If the distant critics had Islamist militants planting bombs outside their doors, they might come to agree.